Ciel Phantomhive was a very, very busy man. Currently, he was trying to balance a pen perfectly on one of his fingers. It was difficult because his hand kept on shaking, no matter how still he tried to keep it.

Normally he wouldn't spend so much time on such a mundane activity, but he was feeling a bit unhappy after last night's failure. He had spent most of the night awake and he hadn't discovered anything—what an enormous waste of time!

He was just about to gripe to Eleanora when she came in with his tea, but decided against it upon seeing her face.

She looked awful. Her eyes were bleary and bloodshot and she had dark circles underneath them and her neck was covered in bruises.

"What happened to you?" Ciel asked before he could restrain himself. "Did you get hit by a train? What happened?"

"Your butler happened," she said sourly.

"What—did he…choke you?"

"Oh, you mean the bruises? No. It's not just on my neck; there's more on my back and stomach…" She saw his expression and cleared her throat.

"But…what happened? How'd you get so many of the awful things?"

"My Lord," she said awkwardly. "They're…well…They're love bites."

"Oh," Ciel said. "So he bit you?"

"You'll understand when you're older," Eleanora said and then Sebastian walked in.

"My Lord! Good morning!"

Ciel blinked and briefly considered calling the police. Who was this strange man? He looked like Sebastian and he was dressed like Sebastian—but it couldn't possibly have been Sebastian.

For one thing, this man was smiling. No, not smiling—beaming. And it wasn't his usual smiles: not his evil demon smirk, or his little mocking leer, or his annoying innocent smile, or that stupid grin he got whenever he saw a cat. No, this was a genuine beam. Ciel had never seen his butler look so happy—he was positively radiant. Ciel could almost see the good vibes flowing from him.

"You've already gotten the tea?" Sebastian asked, looking at the tray. "Excellent! Perfect. Just wonderful."

And he smiled.

Meanwhile, Ciel was still staring at him as if he belonged in the closest lunatic asylum. Eleanora just looked tired.

"Anyway, you rang for me, my Lord?"

"Er…Yes…It's about these new numbers for Funtom…"

"Certainly!"

Ciel had never seen his butler so enthusiastic about numbers before. In fact, he had never seen his butler look so enthusiastic about anything. To be frank, he hadn't even known that his butler could even be enthusiastic.

Eleanora finished preparing his tea and then she went away silently. Sebastian watched her go, smiling softly.

"She's magnificent, isn't she?" he sighed when she closed the door behind her.

"She's…er…what?"

"Glorious. Brilliant. Flawless. Pick an adjective."

"…Are you feeling alright?"

"My Lord," he said, turning that smile to Ciel, "I've never been better!"

Sebastian's good mood refused to dissipate. He remained as strangely cheerful and pleasant for the whole morning. He wasn't even upset when the cook and the gardener accidentally burned down the garden again.

The servants were all outside fixing the ruined plants and the young Master was lying down in his room because he had a headache, leaving Eleanora all alone in the kitchen to make lunch. As she was cooking, she felt somebody touch her hips and then slide closer to her.

"Eleanora," Sebastian cooed and he kissed her neck.

"Yes?" she said tiredly.

"Do you remember what we did last night?"

"How could I forget?"

"I can't stop thinking about it…"

"Neither can I."

"Lady?"

"What?"

He turned her around, smiling.

"Shall we do it again tonight?"

She blinked.

"…What?"

"I said, shall we do it again tonight?"

"Oh," she said and forced a small laugh. "I'd love to; you know that I would, but last night really took it out of me and so I thought that tonight I'd just catch up on my sleep..."

"We wouldn't have to do it all night like last night. We can just do it for half the night, and then you can sleep for the rest of the evening."

He licked his lips, his eyes already turning pink.

"I…don't think so."

"Oh? Why not? Didn't you like it? Didn't you enjoy it?"

"Well…"

His pouty face was slowly turning into a confused one.

"You mean…you didn't like it?"

Eleanora was then, quite literally, saved by the bell. The young Master was ringing for a servant.

"I'LL GET IT!" she said in a far-too-eager voice and practically ran for the upstairs, leaving Sebastian standing alone in the kitchen. That excited, happy feeling in his stomach was slowly fading away, leaving behind something that didn't feel half as nice.

"She did enjoy it…didn't she?"